Central California Soaring Association: SATURDAY, March 12, 2016

WEATHER
Visibility: Unlimited below the very high cirrus.
Wind: South at 3-5 knots.
Altitudes: 5200 msl
Time Aloft: 3.0 hours
Max Lift: 400 fpm.
Temperature: Just about 80 deg.

Comment: Harry Davies' 12 simulated rope breaks.
Tow pilot: Morgan Hall all day long.

Click on any photo to see it enlarged with a slide show available.

Morgan's message to all our CCSC members:

Thank you to everyone hat showed up for the annual meeting to help us keep the membership involve and informed.

The super CliffsNotes notes version follows. Or since our younger members probably don't know what CliffsNotes are, the TLDR; (Too Long Didn't Read).

State of the Club:

Membership around 50, high percentage are Active which is a good indicator. 10 or so youth membership types.

New private owners in the club and upgraded ships. 6 new ships on the field in the last year. 3 were upgrades. Really positive sign for the club when people are investing in soaring. Mario will be adding another 1-26 to the field in the coming months. Club fleet upgraded with the refreshed 1-26 and 2-33 and the acquisition of the DG.

Acknowledgements:

Jan, Martin, Jim, Rick, Richard and Larry all come to mind as people that have dedicated so much time to the glider restorations. Many others have contributed regularly as well, thank you.

Jenn has done a great job at rallying membership at Cal Poly, bringing energy into the club and helping us keep our membership process alive and consistent.

Outgoing Officers: thanks to Bart, Julie and Peter for years of service on the Board.

Finances: I will email our financials to anyone interested in the detailed breakdown. There are paper copies at the clubhouse in a large envelope.

Generally, stable and cash flow positive. Lots of expenses last year that we were able to handle without touching towplane reserves. Thank you to all of the volunteer efforts that let us remain profitable on such low rates.

Future:

Committees - Operations, Facilities, Membership, Shade Structure, Aircraft Fleet

In order to get more involvement from the membership, we will be forming a number of committees to investigate and lead projects.

Operations: chaired by Dan Gudgel as the Ops Officer, but Don Flinn has offered to help bring his experience from the Willamette Valley Soaring club to overall operation procedures and documentation.

Officers of the Day - reviving this concept and updating it. Having someone focused on safety and efficiency really helps. We did a very efficient launch of the fleet in the afternoon thanks to some excellent coordination on the ground before the launches started. Julie is a wizard at the launch line. We need that every day to up help us be more efficient and keep safety and awareness high.

XC Camp - maybe just XC weekends. We can make it as formal or informal as desired.

Growth - help us add members. It's fun, it's active, we want to keep the fleet flying on weekends. Harold is going to make a great slide deck that he has on soaring available to anyone that wants it. I have a couple as well. Easily adapt these and present at other organizations you may be a part of.

New Officer Elections:

By unanimous vote:

Vice President: Mike "don't call me Dan Quayle" Paoli

Maintenance: Jan Zanutto

Secretary: Karl Kunz

Thanks to the new officers for helping to guide the club forward.

Thanks, Morgan

President Morgan Hall addressing the members about club conditions and finances.

The turnout was very good and the meeting ended early enough for good soaring.

Julie Butler is on the lookout for signs of good lift.

It didn't take long for the assembly activity to get underway after the meeting.

Meanwhile, Jim Rickey and Pancho Herrera worked on a very difficult problem within the wing.

Four sailplanes being assembled with more to be added.

Down at the far end there are more gliders being assembled.

That really isn't Dan Gudgel, it's just an air balloon lookalike.

With the southeast end of the runway a bit soft, we launched from the northwest end.

With all these gliders waiting to launch, it's a sure sign that the soaring season has begun.

Harry Davies hooking up Carl Engel for what turned out to be a nice long flight by Carl.

Carl Engel launching and did an excellent job sniffing for the gliders to follow.

There were definitely enough gliders ready to launch to keep Morgan busy towing.

Carl and the tow plane just getting airborne off the colorful grass runway.

The trees in the background weren't really that close, the aircraft were easily up and over them.

Carl is on his way and the rest of the pilots all followed his lead in finding lift.

Jennifer Bauman is now going to fly the 1-26, with help from more than enough pilots.

Adjusting the seat is important for good comfortable control of the glider.

Nature not only provides the lift but this time of year she blankets the field with beautiful flowers.

Jennifer is ready to launch in the 1-26 and had a great flight.

Jeff Richardson waiting patiently in the DG100 behind a few gliders ready to launch ahead of him.

Harry, Julie, Jesse, and Mario all watching for where Carl is to inform Jennifer of lift areas.

Just a really beautiful day at Avenal even launching on runway 13L.

Joe Anastasio's PW-5 sits at the end of the waiting list but he'll get aloft soon enough.

The tow plane is about to reposition for launching Jennifer in the 1-26.

Jennifer Bauman launching in great position behind the tow plane flown by Morgan Hall.

With that light a glider and a decent headwind, both are off the runway very early.

Dan Clark drove all the way down from the Bay area to fly the Orange Crush and stay current.

Dan is positioned very well behind the tow plane and off the runway early.

Julie Butler readying herself and her Discus for another long flight.

Karl Kunz pushing the ASW-20 into position for launch, taking advantage of the lift discovered by others.

Julie Butler off the runway and staying low in position behind Morgan in the tow plane.

Julie Butler off to the wild blue yonder where the clouds promise good lift.

Jeff Richardson off the runway in the DG100 and having fun flying that nice glider.

Jeff Richardson on tow and heading for the lift markers where Carl Engel found them.

The Orange Crush is towed back to the launch area to be flown again and again by lots of members.

Karl Kunz on tow in the ASW20-BL.

Erica, Pancho's partner, waits in the grass and watches all the launches.

Carl Engel landing on runway 13R after sniffing for everyone who followed him aloft.

Karl Kunz returning to Avenal after a nice enjoyable flight with good lift to be found.

Karl Kunz rolling out in the ASW-20 near where his trailer is parked.

Pancho Herrera flying the Orange Crush getting his 3 takeoffs and landings for carrying passengers.

Nice liftoff, Pancho, while the tow plane is still earth bound.

Mario Pauda returning from a flight he really enjoyed in the 1-26.

Here comes Pancho on base for the first of three flights to reach passenger currency.

Pancho turning final for runway 13R and managed to make a super short field landing.

With Pancho legal for carrying passengers, Erica is about to get another glider ride, having done so some time ago.

Pancho and Erica in the Orange Crush following nicely behind the tow plane.

Joe Anastasio was at the back of the launch line but here he is finally taking off.

Joe will have fun in the lift to the East of the field.

Joe and Morgan completing one of the many tows that occurred today.

Nature overdid it in many areas; still beautiful to see but tough to navigate through.

Erica and Pancho. Two really nice people we're happy to have in our club.

Mike Paoli at the beginning of his first BFR flight

The 1-26 sits awaiting Harry Davies record setting flights.

Harry Davies on tow for the first of his 14 flights in a row, a CCSC record.

Morgan diving for the ground during one of Harry Davies 12 simulated rope breaks at 200 ft agl.

So the story is this: Harry wanted to fly the DG100 but didn't have enough flights in the 1-26 to qualify. So he figured that with the cooperation of Morgan in the tow plane and me at the launch area, he could get them all done by the end of the day. And he did. Two pattern tows and 12 simulated rope breaks at 200 agl. Wow!! No one's ever done that before and probably won't in the future.

Here's Morgan's take on it:

Light winds, motivated Navy pilot that needs 20 flights to meet the criteria for flying the DG.

14 tows in .6 tach hour. 2 patterns and 12 rope breaks.

After everyone had got their tows in Harry and I conferred on getting him some flights in he 1-26 towards meeting the requirements for the DG. I thought we might do 6 or so. The intent was to just do some quick turn rope breaks.

Harold was key in letting Harry stay in the glider. Spun him 180, grabbed the rope and hooked him up. Harry clocked us at 4 minute turns takeoff to takeoff. I think we were inspired by the day you had done that with Graeham. In any case 6 turned to 8 and pretty soon he only needed 5 more so we pressed on and got him 14 in one fell swoop.

Total of 28 tows yesterday on 2.5 tach and only shut down once after 1.7 to fuel.

Carl Engel sent in three more photos from today that were worth adding to the already-published story. He said that the last one in particular showed how green the area around the gliderport has become with all the rain we've had lately. But the pictures themselves are really excellent, clear, beautifully arranged and worth seeing.

Harold Gallagher